Social Media ROI Defined as Increased Fans, "Likes" Comments, Interactions by Nearly 40% of Marketers
Wildfire recently conducted a survey of more than 700 marketers from around the globe to gauge their thoughts on measuring the business impact of social media. One of the findings was that measuring social media ROI is most frequently defined as an increase in fans, “likes,” comments and interactions.
According to the survey, 97 percent of marketers believe social media marketing benefits their business, while 75 percent intend to boost their spending on the medium this year.
The survey also highlights the three phases brands go through in their social media campaigns: growing, engaging and monetizing their fan bases. “Currently, the market is focused on the first two phases while monetization has yet to be the focus,” Wildfire notes.
Another finding is that 88 percent of marketers point to growth of brand awareness as a benefit of social media activities, followed by 85 percent who points to engaging in dialogue, 58 percent who point to increased sales and partnerships, and 41 percent who point to reduced costs.
Ninety-four percent of respondents utilize Facebook, followed by 74 percent that use Twitter, 41 percent that use blogs/blogging communities, 32 percent that use LinkedIn, 30 percent that use YouTube and 6 percent that use other social media channels. Wildfire noted that this may change in 2012, thanks to Twitter’s branded pages, LinkedIn’s developer launch, Google+ and the growth of blogging networks like Tumblr and WordPress.
Meanwhile, 44 percent of respondents said new customer recruitment is the most valuable aspect of a Facebook fan, followed by 18 percent that cited higher conversion rates and 18 percent that cited more frequent purchases. Wildfire also noted that nearly 70 percent of marketers surveyed believe Facebook fans are worth more than non-fans.
According to the survey, 38 percent of responding marketers use increased fans, “likes,” comments and interactions as a measure for social media ROI, followed by 24 percent who use increased revenue, and 15 percent who use increased brand awareness.
Wildfire added that 100 percent of respondents that did not define ROI in the classical definition still thought social media benefits their business.
A separate report from Awareness Inc. found that 70 percent of responding U.S. marketers will invest more in increasing their presence across social media platforms in 2012, followed by 59 percent who will invest more in increasing the frequency of content publishing.
Sources:
http://blog.wildfireapp.com/2012/01/19/measuring-the-business-impact-of-social-media-infographic/
